Prof Gyampo recounts his last encounter with Sir John

Political Scientist, Prof. Ransford Gyampo has recounted his last encounter with the former General of the New Patriotic Party(NPP) Sir John before his sudden demise.

Sir John was admitted at the Korle Bu where he was receiving treatment until his sudden demise Wednesday evening.

Narrating his last encounter with the Chief Executive officer(CEO) of the Forestry Commission, Prof. Gyampo said Sir John called him and unlike Sir John, his voice was low and was straight to the point with his answers.

He revealed how the jovial man praised him for his analysis of the just ended NPP Primaries that took place at the various Constituencies where the party had a sitting Member of Parliament.

See His Statement Below

Sir John!

Chairman!

Wofa!

Oh God! We, lesser mortals do not question you over anything because, you sit in heaven and do whatever pleases you. You are the only one who has the right not to be understood by mortals. We won’t question you, irrespective of our pain and sorrow.

Sir John called me last Saturday to commend me on my analyses of the NPP Parliamentary Primaries on TV.

His voice was low. He typically would crack jokes for about a minute before saying why he called. But this time, he sounded unwell. So, I asked him why he was sounding so low and he told me he wasn’t well. I told him he only needed some rest after losing his sister and mother.

He asked me to see him in his office on Tuesday. But I didn’t go. Why? Because anytime he calls me to his office, he embarrasses me with kindness and sometimes, it gets a bit uncomfortable.

Yes, he was angling to take the Chairmanship position of his party at their next election, and needed me around to provide some consultancy for him. But his kindness outweighed whatever I was doing for him.

Anytime he called me to his office to seek my views on an issue, I met all manner of people across the political divide, both NPP and NDC people there, and he solved their myriad problems for them, sometimes, by just making a phone call.

I almost thought of sending him a text yesterday morning about an issue. But I later felt it was more appropriate to go see him in person. My plan was to go see him on Friday because, he told me he has more time to share his usual jokes on Friday late afternoons.

Then I just heard this news yesternite!

Sir John was among the very few politicians who have kept Ghana’s peace, by promoting consensus building and minimizing adversarial politics. When I was the coordinator of the IEA-Ghana Political Parties Programme and he was the General Secretary of the NPP, I saw how well he related with Asiedu Nketiah and other General Secretaries.

On campaign rallies, and in his partisan public pronouncements, he sounded combative and humorous at the same time. His sense of humor disarmed political Combatants and lessened Political Tension.

Behind the scenes, he was a very gentle and kind politician, who built excellent relations with all across the political divide. He was tolerant and had a lot of respect for people like me, who sometimes, held contrary views to his, and criticized him or his party. Behind the scenes, he tried to make peace with his critics and political opponents.

So, with people like Sir John in Ghana, we were never going to go to war. We could threaten each other, but he knew how to make peace-building phone calls to his opponents.

Many politicians are greedy. They sit on power and resources and distribute same to only few cronies, family people, and friends. But Sir John was an excellent philanthropist, who easily embarrassed people, regardless of their partisan coloration, with kindness. He was one of his kind.

People, we either take COVID seriously or die. Up till now, many Ghanaians are still ignorant or do not care about COVID. The pain of contracting the disease, and having your wife, children and many innocent people around you, subpoenaed to the hospital for testing, as well as the anxiety of waiting for the test results, regrettably, haven’t been deterring enough for many Ghanaians.

So, people are playing football, sometimes even behind police barracks, with teaming supporters, who do not observe any of the COVID protocols and nobody seem to care. I personally witnessed some people playing football, with huge crowd of supporters cheering and virtually spitting salivas on themselves. I tried to draw their attention on the illegality and COVID, but one of them boldly told me that, COVID is meant to affect only top public officials.

We saw how people conducted themselves during the NPP Parliamentary Primaries and how they are disregarding all COVID protocols at the various registration centers with virtually no one enforcing the rules. Well, may be, many more top officials and those expected to enforce the rules, who seem tired already, must be sacrificed to warn people about the dangers of COVID. Else, we must be serious and a little more brutish in our enforcement of all protocols.

Well, Sir John rest well. Your demise is painful because, you loved life and loved to live. Your up and down African wear and decent haircuts, as well as nice photo frames of yourself in your office, show that you weren’t ready for death. The last time I met you in your office, I saw how you eagerly dropped a 1000 milligram of Vitamin C in voltic water and quickly gobbled it. You were health conscious, and very much aware of your underlying condition, as a relatively old man. But this is what has happened to you!

What happens to your driver, your bodyguard, your secretary, your deputy, your wife and children? How about the school fees you were paying for those who randomly bumped into you? What happens to the old taxi driver whose car, you promised to fix, when he run into another car and was worried that his car owner was going to sack him? Who is going to pay for the boreholes you were sinking for some communities free of charge? How about the hospital you were building for your community? How about the thousands of mouths you fed almost on daily basis?

You planned the funeral of your mother and sister and slated 27th August 2020 for their burial. Yet you died on 1st July 2020. Who does this, Wofa?

May your goodness to mankind, speak for you before the throne of grace, as you journey to eternity, Wofa. May every soul that is hit hard by your sudden demise be consoled.

Rest well, Sir.

Yaw Gyampo
A31, Prabiw
PAV Ansah Street
Saltpond
&
Suro Nipa House
Kubease
Larteh-Akuapim

Source: MyNewsGh.com/ 2020